Diamond Distributors Top 100 RPG Products By Sales

[Morrus]

Over on ICv2 you can see a full list of the 100 bestselling roleplaying game products in 2019 sold by Diamond Comic Distributors. Top of the list is Pathfinder 2E. Green Ronin features high with both the first Critical Role setting book, Tal’Dorei, and The Expanse.

Diamond is only one of many distributors in the US and does not carry all RPG product lines; so don’t take this as an industry wide bestseller list. Notably D&D is not included, nor are other heavy hitters like FFG’s Star Wars, or Chaosium with Call of Cthulhu, or any of Modiphius’ prodigious output. From this list they mainly seem to carry Paizo and Green Ronin. Head on over to ICv2 for the full list.

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Diamond Comic Distributors Top 100 Games--Full Year 2019

Diamond Ranks Its Top Games of 2019

icv2.com

 

[Bravesteel25]

Interesting! I guess this puts some pause to the idea that P2 isn’t doing well, although how many of those sales are translating into actual campaigns being played is anyone’s guess.

 

[charlesatan]

Interesting! I guess this puts some pause to the idea that P2 isn’t doing well,

Not necessarily.

It means P2 commands presumably a large chunk of a small pie.

Now whether that small pie is profitable/popular enough...

 

[Bravesteel25]

Not necessarily.

It means P2 commands presumably a large chunk of a small pie.

Now whether that small pie is profitable/popular enough...

No, I’m not arguing that it is doing as well as P1 or 5E, just that it obviously is not a commercial failure as some have speculated.

 

[Morrus]

I mean, it’s just one distributor which from the big list looks limit only really carries Paizo and Green Ronin, so I wouldn’t glean too much.

 

[charlesatan]

it obviously is not a commercial failure as some have speculated.

Again, it depends on how large a market Diamond is vs. the costs of Paizo, both of which are info we don't have.

The problem with Diamond sales is that its market are comic book stores and some specialty stores. It's a step in the right direction for Paizo that they dominate these charts, but just because you dominate these charts doesn't necessarily mean you're doing well commercially overall.

We don't have enough info.

 

[Bravesteel25]

I mean, it’s just one distributor which from the big list looks limit only really carries Paizo and Green Ronin, so I wouldn’t glean too much.

Oh! Whoops! I read ICv2 and didn’t read that the chart was only for the one distributor. Never mind!

 

[darjr]

Never the less these are good facts to have. Smaller pieces to a bigger picture. Thanks goes to Diamond for sharing!

 

[teitan]

I was going to post this to the Pathfinder forum but it seems it would be a better fit here. The article is Diamond Comics Distributor top 100 games list and it is a very interesting look at how gaming is doing in general. It should be noted that the only WOTC D&D product is Stranger Things and then there is the Avernus minis from Wizkids but the rest seems to be dominated by Pathfinder, with P2 being the top seller for the year in spite of coming out August. Also near the top is the Starfinder core rule book at number 4 after two years in the wild as well as the first Critical Role book, Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting from Green Ronin.

Diamond Comic Distributors Top 100 Games--Full Year 2019

Diamond Ranks Its Top Games of 2019

icv2.com

Nevermind, merge this with the other if people come to comment.

 

[teitan]

I mean, it’s just one distributor which from the big list looks limit only really carries Paizo and Green Ronin, so I wouldn’t glean too much.

Diamond owns Alliance and is the only distributor in the US for comic book shops so it is probably a little bigger than one would think. Diamond does distribute WOTC products along with other companies so it may be a bit telling as far as the crowds in largely comic book stores and their buying habits. My own comic shop gets their D&D titles from Diamond.